Syria says it has seized a cannon, 75 hot-air balloons and more than two million Captagon pills from a gang planning to smuggle drugs to Jordan.
Security personnel also confiscated more than 150kg of cannabis and equipment such as helium gas cylinders, plastic mortar shells and a drone, the Syrian Interior Ministry said. The suspects planned to use the cannon to launch packets of drugs into neighbouring Jordan, authorities said.
The ministry said its anti-narcotics department carried out a series of operations in southern areas, focused on a criminal network specialising in smuggling narcotics.
Four suspects were arrested and referred to the judiciary to face trial, the ministry said.
It added that troops seized two million Captagon pills, 605 palm-sized packets of hashish weighing 151kg in total, 610 helium cylinders, 75 hot-air balloons, 30 plastic mortar shells, a cannon, a drone, and communication devices.
The department said it is determined to continue carrying out these security operations "to dismantle drug networks in all their forms, to protect society and youth and preserve public security."
In December, the Jordanian military launched air strikes against drug smuggling networks in southern Syria. The army had said that it was aiming at a number of "factories and workshops used by arms and drug dealers".
During Syria's civil war before the fall of Bashar Al Assad in December 2024, the drug Captagon became the country's largest foreign currency earner, with its trade serving as a funding source for the embattled government.
Last year, Jordan and Syria agreed to intensify joint action against drug smuggling as ties between the two countries improved despite Amman's displeasure at continued cross-border narcotics flows into the kingdom.
The cross-border flow of drugs has been a prominent national security threat in the Middle East. Captagon worth billions of dollars has crossed from Syria into other Arab countries through Jordan every year since 2018.
